Games are a popular means for bringing together groups of people in a spirit of friendly competition for fun and sometimes educational benefit. Many games are designed to strengthen and develop knowledge and skills in certain fields of education, such as spelling, math, or history. Games can be used in many settings including families, friends, schools and institutions. In almost all these groupings, there exists a vast array of skill levels, whether it is members of a family of different ages, friends with different abilities, or a group of students at various levels. This difference in skill levels can potentially reduce the satisfaction of winning and the feeling of fairness received by some players.
Educational and knowledge-based games usually consist of a chance device, such as a spinner or dice, a game board, game pieces for marking each player's position or status within the game, and sometimes one or more card decks. These board games known in the art are limited to a specific game design, and are not generally usable with any other game pieces.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,738,354 to Easley discloses an educational board game requiring a playing board with a pathway, game pieces or tokens, and a card set unique to the game containing categorized questions with a variety of difficulty level questions on each card. A concealment device allows only one question of a given difficulty level to be viewed and read by a player. When the question is answered correctly the player can advance on the board. U.S. Pat. No. 5,906,371 to Peterson discloses another educational board game that requires a similar card set unique to the game, game pieces, and a game board. The players advance around the board or along a path on the board after correctly answering categorized questions in their specific skill level.
Board games are useful in stable, level environments, such as home table tops and desks in schools. However, games with many game pieces can be difficult or impossible to play in moving vehicles or other space constrained areas. Additionally, games which employ game pieces or tokens, a game board, and possibly dice or a spinner can be burdensome to store and retain all the necessary components. Finally, educational board games tend to be inflexible in their subject content, skill level thresholds, and relevancy to current events as the game board and cards must all be updated or replaced as they related to each other heavily.
Card games are popular because they can be played in environments which do not lend themselves well to playing board games, such as airplanes, cars, and beds. Educational card games, such as flash cards, are primarily single player non-competitive games. Some card games, such as those based on a stand enjoy the flexibility of being able to play multiple games with the same materials, but do not lend themselves to multi-skill level play well. For example, various forms of poker can be played with a standard card deck, but players of a lower skill level are at a distinct disadvantage.
U.S. Patent 5,882,258 to Kelly, et al, discloses a card game which allows for multi-skill level play, but does so by relying upon timers to complete actions. Such a game is useful for odds-based games, such as blackjack, whereby limiting the time a player has to calculate or estimate odds can adjust a degree of difficulty. However, such a card game which employs time limits is not especially well adapted for knowledge-based subjects such as history or spelling. Also, the need for timers may make this card game less useful in some of the environments previously discussed.
Therfore, there is a need in the art for a game apparatus and a method of use thereof, which can be readily and simultaneously played by a plurality of players of varying skill levels in a variety of environments, such as on table tops or in moving vehicles. This apparatus should eliminate reliance upon game boards and game pieces to play a game, and should enhance the ability to store it without lost pieces. Further, there is a need in the art to be able to upgrade the game, or modify its subject content without the expense of replacement of these items.